ATTENTION ALL MEMBERS:
Re; Lao Border Points
There was a train-wreck of a post (now thankfully deleted) the other night about someone who was denied entry into thailand at the Nong Khai border crossing <-(hands down the EASIEST border crossing in all of thailand to get IN to the country by)
And it seems every Tom, Dick & Somchai poser :O errr poster had to weigh in with their 2 satang's worth of info on what to do.
I want to clear up ANY misunderstanding.
There is ABSO-tively, POSI-lutely ZERO problem with ANY border crossing with Lao and you don't need a service to bounce you out and back with them AT ALL.
It appears the whole story was not related in the thread :O The O/P entered the country and was mistakenly stamped in for 60 days NOT the 30 days they would get on a visa exempt entry.
They foolishly thought that if immigration makes a mistake the stamp is good <- IT IS NOT.
They stayed the full 60 days then went to fly out. When they stamped out they were found to NOT have held a tourist visa but had really entered visa exempt and been stamped in wrong. The fact they didn't correct it <- meant they were now on a 30 day overstay.. Graciously the people at passport control didn't fine them the 15K baht overstay. They did get the overstay stamp though.
AND
when they went to re-enter at the Nong Khai border I think passport control saw the overstay stamp and said, you just overstayed a month you can't get in by land and turned them back to Lao.
Eventually they did get in but it took another day..
This was 100% a problem of their own making, they got stamped in wrong, they didn't go correct it <- Once again people, it is YOUR passport so YOUR responsibility to get errant stamps corrected,
IF you get stamped in for longer than you should you DO NOT get to stay that extra time because immigrations 'messed up'..
You'll get tagged for overstay because you 'messed up' not going to get that stamp corrected.
CHECK your stamp before you walk away from passport control.
I just wanted to let everyone know, despite that thread about the denial at Nong Khai
THERE IS NO ISSUE AT ALL WITH ANY OF THE LAO BORDER POINTS AS FAR AS PEOPLE GETTING OUT AND BACK IN.
TLDR : Answer Summary
A recent discussion has clarified misconceptions regarding entry issues at the Nong Khai border with Laos. A person who overstayed their visa was denied re-entry due to an incorrect stamp at immigration. It was emphasized that it is crucial to check passport stamps carefully due to personal responsibility for one’s immigration status. Despite earlier claims of issues at Lao border points, the consensus is that there are no problems as long as travelers do not overstay. Travelers should be aware that overstays can lead to complications when attempting to re-enter Thailand.
